ALONG THE COAST AND ELSEWHERE 171 



holidaying in the beautiful Island of Arran, and every day, and 

 all day, I was hardly out of hearing of the bird under review. 

 The note may be written down as a shrill and somewhat mono- 

 tonous " toodle-oodle-oodle," quickly repeated, and, as I caught 

 sight of the Redshank swinging over the hedge, I imitated its 

 note to the best of my ability. To my surprise, the bird heard 

 and heeded me, or rather the call I uttered attracted its atten- 

 tion. It pulled itself up, as it were, then swung back, and alighted 

 in the centre of the roadway as already described. Having satis- 

 fied itself that no feathered biped was in the neighbourhood, and 

 that it had evidently been deceived, it bobbed up and down a few 

 times, ran along in the engaging manner it is wont to do, and then 

 made its way towards the salt marshes, where it loves to wade. 



FIG. 73. REDSHANK. 



I can now not only pride myself on being able to start the 

 Nightingale singing at home in Hertfordshire, and to call the 

 Bullfinch almost to my elbow, but also to imitate, with some 

 amount of success, the Redshank of our marshes and seashores. 



Walking along the shore towards Old Hunston, and the village 

 of Holme, when the tide was out, I was pleasantly surprised to 

 observe two companies of birds not far from the famous Mussel 

 beds which are there found. One company of birds was com- 



